REGION: Stone proposal would make criminals pay

Inmates sentenced to do time in Riverside County jails would
need to reimburse the county for its costs of booking, prosecuting
and housing them, while friends and family members would pay fees
to visit them, under a plan advanced by Supervisor Jeff Stone.

Stone, who a few years ago unsuccessfully advocated housing
criminals in open-tent jails like the celebrated one in the desert
outside Phoenix, said that with the county struggling to make ends
meet, convicted criminals ought to pay the county back if they are
financially able to.

"You know what? We're not running a country club. We're running
a (jail)," Stone said, in a telephone interview Friday. "Why should
the taxpayers have to pay for that when the perpetrator has the
means to pay for it?"

Stone's proposal is scheduled to go to the county Board of
Supervisors on Tuesday.

Essentially, Stone is advocating that convicted criminals pay
every conceivable expense associated with their travel through the
local court and jail systems.

"I tend to look at things from a cost-recovery standpoint ----
from wherever I can recover funds," he said. "Therein lies the
millions of dollars that we are going to be able to put back into
the budget and maintain our public safety services."

Sheriff Stan Sniff said last week that he is at least $17
million ---- and as much as $40 million ---- short of what he needs
for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

He has put 200 deputies on notice that they will be laid off
over the summer.

Stone also wants to charge people a $5 fee to visit sentenced
inmates, to help defray the county's cost of arranging such
meetings.

Stone dismisses the notion that a visitor fee could be perceived
as cruel or unfair.

"My response is, 'Your son or daughter should have thought twice
before committing that crime,'" he said. "We're a service provider,
and we need to be paid back for the services that we provide."

Mona Lynch, a professor of criminology and law at UC Irvine,
said Monday that the Riverside County proposal reflects a growing
nationwide trend to make prisoners foot costs associated with their
jail stays, and the practice is generally considered to be
legal.

But there are problems, Lynch said.

"First, in many jurisdictions, people who fall behind on
payments can (be) and often are jailed for failure to pay," she
said. "This both exacerbates overcrowding problems and costs, and
further burdens the offenders in any efforts to get back on their
feet."

Lynch said the practice also tends to divert jail staffers from
their primary tasks, and turns them into debt collectors.

Andy Roth, a Riverside attorney who handles civil rights cases,
sees another problem: It provides an incentive to lock more people
up.

"From a policy standpoint, we don't want the Sheriff's
Department arresting people in order to make money," Roth said.

David Steinberg, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of
Law in San Diego, predicted that someone will mount a legal
challenge against the Riverside County proposal, if it is
adopted.

He said there is a good chance the measure would be declared
unconstitutional, because in effect it would make penalties for
crimes higher in Riverside County than in other counties.

The result could be disastrous for some people, he added.

"They go to jail, they get out and they can't pay the bill," he
said. "So now the county imposes a lien on their house and they
lose their house. And now they are homeless. I could easily see
that happening. Folks who wind up in jail don't tend to be very
wealthy. Bernie Madoff is the exception to the rule."

As for the idea of a visitor fee, Roth said that, too, may be
unconstitutional, as it would discourage poor people from visiting
prisoners.

"It is a good thing for inmates to have visits from family
members because it keeps them in contact with the community," he
said. "We know that the more isolated an inmate is from his
community, the more likely he is to come out and reoffend."

Legal and policy issues aside, Roth said he doesn't think the
measure would result in significant cash collections.

"I don't think it's going to be a golden goose," Roth said.

Stone said most inmates probably can't afford to reimburse the
county.

"But I'll bet you 25 percent of them probably can," he said.

Stone is proposing to make inmates cover costs of:

Booking fees

Housing and feeding them in local jails, about $125 per
day

Providing medical treatment

Providing attorneys to represent and defend them in court

Probation costs

Aside from that, Stone wants to charge inmates to call friends
and relatives on jail telephones.

As is his tradition, Stone came up with an acronym for his
latest initiative: RECORCE. It stands for Require Every Convict
Occupant Reimburse County Expenses.